Could REALLY use some help with the Phonics Musuem / Kindergartener learning to read

[teachermom_7]

Good Afternoon!!

 

I have a question / frustration :confused1: could use some help with from you "veterans" .............

 

I purchased the Phonics Musuem for my son to do for this year (Kindergarten). He's a young 5 (birthday was just last week). He did the MFW K5 curriculum last year, just a more relaxed method. He knows all of his letters and sounds, and, on a good day, can sound out basic one vowel words. My problem is he has a TOTAL BLOCK toward progressing into actual reading!! He loves the music CD, likes the game, but as far as working on the cards and workbook pages, he could care less!!

 

One part of me keeps thinking maybe he's just not ready for this program yet, but it's just an incredible program I don't want to give up too soon. He's very inquisitive and very bright ~ I know he can do it. Just need to find the right motivator!!

 

 

Any suggestions??

 

Thanks so much!

 

Tammie Bowles

Three Star Team Leader

AtHome America

www.athome.com (#34905)

tammiebowles@yahoo.com

[cajunrose]

I'll be watching this one. I'm running into the same thing with my daughter and ETC.

[Homeschooling6]

Sometimes all they need is a break. Stop for a few weeks or even a month and then try it again.

 

Sorry, I haven't used the program, so no advice there:001_huh:

[Ottakee]

http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html

 

Check out these little books for teaching reading. They are wonderful and very motivating to younger learners.

 

If you go to the Learning Challenges board you can see lots of posts on these I See Sam books.

[Tutor]

He just might not be ready yet. My ds7 just learned to read about 8 months ago. I have been working with him since he was 4. He loved all the programs we tried (Phonics Pathways, Phonics Museum, and just a loose-no-real-program-at-all approach) but nothing was sticking. He had a minor speech problem, so that contributed some, but it was probably not the main reason he wouldn't read. He just wasn't ready. So, I stopped pushing it. I would read out loud to him, and we'd casually review letter sounds and sound out words he saw regularly, but I ditched the programs.

 

About a year ago, he said that he really wanted to learn to read. I tried a casual approach first. I'd write out a word, one letter at a time, and he would read it with me. He was progressing slowly, but he wanted to go faster and the casual approach wasn't doing it for him. We went back to Phonics Museum, and it just didn't click. He loved doing it and really enjoyed the readers, but he still couldn't read on his own. I decided to try Hooked on Phonics, and he went from sounding out letters to reading Little House in the Big Woods in 6 months at the age of 7! I think the combination of a desire to read on his part with a program that fit his personality was the key.

 

Now my 4yo son says he wants to do Hooked on Phonics, but I think he just likes the idea of it; he's not really "getting it" though. We've dropped it for now and will try again in a few months. He's just not ready yet. (He does enjoy our "letter of the day", though, so at least he's not going backwards with letter i.d. and sounds.)

 

I hope this was encouraging and helpful. Your ds just may need a break and maybe a change of tack. He'll read eventually. :001_smile:

[Jolash]

We used the Phonics Museum for two years, starting when ds8 was 5. He was already "reading": ie, Bob books and three letter words he could sound out and then together with my help, put together into a word. We just went very slowly at first... sometimes spending two or more days on one lesson until he "got" it, then moving on to the next one. He wasn't really big on the worksheets either. I think seeing all the blank spaces made him nervous ("You want me to cover all this white space with writing?!?!) so I'd have him do just a little each day. He's also so NOT a colorer so we gave that up from the second lesson.

 

My advice would be to just keep plugging along, knowing that eventually it'll click and he'll "get" it. Keep in mind that he is only five. I'm starting my fifth year of hsing and am only now beginning to relax when it comes to my approach! HTH

[Kathleen in VA]

Learning to read requires neurological development. No amount of instruction can fast forward this development. Brain development is just a matter of time. Your son sounds very typical to me. I taught all five of mine to read and taught reading in kindergarten and first grade. All these children were on different timetables. My youngest knew the sounds the letters made when she was three but wasn't able to make the leap to combining them until she was 6 or 7. When my second oldest was like that I fretted and worried and thought I should sell my phonics program and buy another one. Then we all got sick and had to put school on the back burner for an entire month. When we got back to it, he picked up the book and went with it - I hadn't taught him anything in that time - his brain just developed.

 

When my youngest went through it, I just sat back and relaxed. I knew it would only be a matter of time. She is nine now and is just beginning to be a voracious reader. I didn't buy anything new - I just waited.

 

My advice is to focus on other things right now. Review the phonics he has mastered and just wait for his mind to bloom. It will.